ABSTRACT
In this chapter we explore the idea of global leadership and the development of global leaders. Global leadership has been discussed extensively during the last 30 years: it is a contentious notion. There is no consensus as to what global leadership is – is it leadership exercised in a variety of locations over the course of a career? Is it leadership in an organization operating on a global scale? Is it leadership that rises to global challenges? We first explore the literature relating to global leadership and its development and find that this literature embraces a competence approach. We consider what is rarely discussed in this literature in relation to ethical and responsible leadership and how leaders need to face up to globalization responsibilities. We consider new thinking on leadership and question whether the global leadership literature and these new developments can be brought together. We then turn to practice – what do companies faced with the need to respond practically actually provide for their leaders? – and offer five case studies of corporate practice in global leadership development. We conclude that companies aim to contextualize their leadership development and that the leadership development literature needs to address potential disconnects between literature addressing global leadership, corporate social responsibility (CSR), ethical and responsible leadership and contextualized leadership development.
